Tokyo Xtreme Racer, known as Shutokō Battle (首都高バトル) in Japan and Tokyo Highway Challenge in Europe, is a racing video game for the SegaDreamcast. Released in 1999 as one of the console's launch titles, the game was one of the first mission-based racing games. The gameplay involves the player challenging other drivers on the Shuto Expressway in order to gain money to modify and enhance his or her car. The game features a wide variety of Japanese cars and tuning parts to purchase as the player progresses through rivals.

When released in Japan, Shutokō Battle was one of the best selling Dreamcast titles at this time. The game is based on illegal highway racing in Tokyo's Wangan highway with custom tuned cars. A such phenomenon is growing popular in Japan since the 90's with its dedicated manga (Shutokō Battle's biggest inspiration being Wangan Midnight), anime series and video games (C1 Circuit, Wangan Trial, Naniwa Wangan Battle).

Mobile edition

2002 Vodafone Live! 2D mobile version by Genki Mobile with unlicensed Japanese cars. Game download and gaming service only available in Japan. "Time Attack" passwords from "Shutokō Battle Zero" (PlayStation 2) can be used to unlock extra cars. Day/night racing conditions are directly taken from the user's mobile real time data. Melodies from "Kaido Battle 2 Chain Reaction" were available for free download from 25/02 to 31/03 2004 to Shutokō Battle owners only.

Portable edition

In 2005, a PlayStation Portable edition designed by GRP (Genki Racing Project) that included licensed Japanese cars, was being created with the working title "Shutokō Battle Zone Of Control", but it has been shortened to "Shutokō Battle" when released. Weekly Famitsu rated it 31/40, while the original Dreamcast title received 32/40. This PSP edition was licensed to Konami and released in North America and Europe as "Street Supremacy" in early 2006.

Campaign

The Japanese' famous die-cast models company, Tomica, released a limited edition of Banshee's NSX in 1999. In the western release of the Dreamcast game, Banshee's controversial forehead-tattooed Hindu swastika was removed.

Inspirations

A famous car is hidden in the Japanese version, this car is Takumi Fujiwara's (from popular manga & TV series "Initial D") Fujiwara Tofu Shop "Home Delivery" Trueno. This special car is the only one with the ability to drive in the wrong way of the traffic. When doing this, a police siren is heard. The Genki Racing Project team later included the same car in Racing Battle.

In Shutokō Battle 0, another hidden car was the red S15 Silvia that of Nobuteru Taniguchi from the D1GP series with his original livery and is sponsored by the publisher. Taniguchi, between 2004–05, drove for Bandoh Racing, who incidentally endorsed the earlier games.

The Last Bosses, called "Devils", cars are designed according to those appearing in the 1992 manga Wangan Midnight. "ZERO" drives the same large fog lights equipped black Porsche 911 Turbo (Type-964) than Tatsuya Shima, while "???" owns Wangan Midnight's main character, Akio Asakura's tuned blue Fairlady Z (Type-S30) "The Devil Z".

Types & Licenses

Since its introduction in the mid '90s, like similar games, the "Shutokō Battle" series never used licensed cars but the usual type designation such as "TYPE-86" and later "TYPE-AE86L3". Nicknames were used instead in the "Wangan Dead Heat" sidestory (e.g. "Rapid Fire" for the "Nissan Skyline GT-R R33"). These "types" are actually the real chassis code used by the Japanese makers to designate the various grades of a lineup. As the graphics quality was improving with each release, from 16-bit 2D to 3D/CG 128-bit, the featured cars were becoming more and more similar to the actual cars appearance. In a similar way, the chassis codes became longer and more precise, allowing the player to determine each grade and to use the "rename car" feature. Inevitably, the game becoming a solid best seller, the Japanese makers forced Genki to buy the license of their cars. The very first Genki licensed game was Wangan Midnight for PlayStation 2 (28.03.2002), while the first licensed "Shutokō Battle" was Shutokō Battle Online released on PC, the 9th of January 2003. Since then, every Genki racing game uses licensed makers, and ingame cars with Honda chassis codes don't appear anymore in the Shutokō Battle games (However, Honda is licensed in the Kaido Battle series).

Mitsubishi

Sequels

In 2000, the first sequel, titled Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2, was released for Sega Dreamcast in Japan and North America. A version of the game for the PAL region was released as Tokyo Highway Challenge 2.

In 2001, the second sequel, titled Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero, was released for PlayStation 2 in Japan and North America. This was originally intended to be released for Dreamcast, but those plans were scrapped.

On February 28th, 2006, a new installment of the series was released for the PSP, marketed as Street Supremacy in North America. Later, in April of that year, North America saw the release of Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift, a localized version of the 2003 title, Kaido Battle, previously only available in Japan. The Drift was an interquel between Zero and 3.

The last sequel, entitled Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 (the North American release of Kaido: Touge no Densetsu), was released on April 17th, 2007. Kaido Battle 2: Chain Reaction (2004, released in Europe as Kaido Racer) was skipped in North America.

Reception

On release, Famitsu magazine scored the Dreamcast version of the game a 32 out of 40.[2]

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